The Curtis Family Curse
by midnightquaffles
Summary: The eldest of Darry's 3 kids finds Ponyboy's essay and now Darry's kids will go through the same problems faced in The Outsiders in modern times.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Outsiders_

"Yeah, dad, I'll look to see if I have anything of yours. Bye," Simon Michael Curtis hung up the phone, rolling his eyes. He was twenty years old-- a grown adult in college-- and his father, Darrel Curtis, calls him to tell him to clean his room. Well, he didn't actually say "Go clean your room", but he might as well have.

Instead, Simon's father came up with the story of how he had been looking in the attic for a very important notebook, which was supposedly a family heirloom, and he feared that Simon may have accidentally taken it one of the numerous times he had explored the attic when he was young.

Simon thought that it was impossible for him to have this "precious family heirloom" as Simon had hardly been home since he was thirteen years old. He hadn't been home for so long because he had been sent to boarding school at the age of thirteen due to his "unruly" behavior. He had never really liked being at home, so he never returned except for the occasional visit requested by one or both of his parents. Simon now lived in a small apartment close to his school, hours away from home.

Simon knew his father would call again soon, expecting an answer as to the location of this notebook. For some strange reason, Simon always found himself incapable of lying to his father, even over the phone. So he reluctantly began the search.

About two hours later, the tiny apartment was a wreck. Chairs were overturned, laundry dumped all over the floor, and trash was lying everywhere. Simon was about to call it quits and break the news to his father before he thought of one last place it could possibly be. He walked over to his closet and opened the door. It wasn't exactly the neatest or most organized place in the world and almost immediately upon opening the door, several things came toppling out, including an old box.

Within the brown box lied several documents, and an old composition notebook with yellowing pages labeled:

"The Outsiders" An essay by Ponyboy Curtis.

Curious as to why this was so important to his father, Simon carefully opened the notebook, trying not to do any damage to the fragile pages. But before he could lay his eyes on the first page, the telephone rang.

Simon grabbed the phone, "Hello," he answered.

"Simon? It's Josh." His voice sounded panicked. Joshua Tyler Curtis was Simon's younger, twelve-year-old brother.

"What happened?" Simon asked. Something had to be wrong for Josh to call him. The two had barely spoken since the last time they had talked to each other, a few years ago, and they had gotten into an argument on why Simon left home.

"I'm at the hospital. There was a car crash. Mom and Dad were really hurt and I don't how they are now. I need you to come here as soon as you can. The hospital people say they need an adult to do all the boring paperwork and junk," Josh hurriedly told him.

"Okay, give me the address and I'll be there in a few hours," Simon said.

As soon as Josh gave the hospital address, Simon practically ran out the door and into the car, the notebook forgotten on the coffee table.

The drive to the hospital was slow due to traffic. Simon allowed his mind to wander and remembered the last time he had visited home.

**It was about two months ago. He had come home because his mother insisted that she had to tell him something important. It was either very late at night, or very early in the morning (depending on how you looked at it) when he had arrived home. The house was silent that night (or morning). Everybody was asleep except for the two of them. Simon's mother, Jennifer Morgan Curtis, had a very serious expression that let Simon know that there was a good reason he had been asked there. **

**"Simon," he could remember his mother's voice so clearly, "I know you're used to being able to… afford things easily, but that's going to change. I lost my job. Income is low. Your father and I have been very stressed and everything has been extremely difficult lately. On top of all of that… I went to the doctors last week and found out that I have a weak heart. I haven't told your dad yet. I need surgery, but it is very costly and we no longer have the money to be able to afford something so pricey. Not unless you give up college and I could use your tuition money to pay for it." She looked at him hopefully.**

**Simon had looked at her like she was out of her mind. "Mom, I can't do that. I can't just give up college. It's my life. Besides, you said we're low on money, so I'll need college to get a better paying job. I'm sorry, but I just can't give that up. Besides, doctors don't know everything. You're going to be fine." **

Simon pulled himself out of his memory. He couldn't believe that those cruel words might be the last he would ever say to his mother. _No, no. Don't think like that,_ he told himself, _Everything will turn out okay. Mom and dad will be fine._

But Simon didn't believe himself. He turned up the radio in an attempt to drown out his confused thoughts.

A few hours later, Simon arrived at the hospital. After briefly speaking to a nurse, he entered the waiting room and spotted his younger brother sitting in a chair with a little girl asleep in his lap.

"Who is that?" Simon quietly asked his brother, gesturing to the small girl.

Josh gave him a funny look before responding, "Andrea. Our sister."

Simon mentally kicked himself. He had forgotten he even had a little sister. He looked down at the small child. She had long, dirty blonde, almost brown hair. "How old is she?" Simon asked. "Seven" Josh whispered.

"Seven? Are you sure? She's too small to be seven; she looks like she's four!" Simon exclaimed. "Yeah, I know. Mom told me she has some kind of growing disorder she was born with." Josh explained.

Then Simon remembered the reason he was there. "Have you heard anything about mom and dad?" he asked. Josh shook his head.

"Wait here." Simon ordered. He went to the nurses station and asked for the doctor of Darrel and Jennifer Curtis and was told to wait. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long.

He had just gone back to where his two younger siblings were when a doctor approached them. Eyeing the two children, the doctor asked to speak with Simon in privet.

"You're the son of Mr. and Mrs. Darrel Curtis?" the doctor questioned. "Yeah. What's wrong? Are they okay? What happened?" Simon responded anxiously.

"I'm Doctor Harold Mallek. I'm sorry to tell this to you, but you're parents are not okay. Your parents were in an accident. Their car was faulty and broke down on train tracks. The train came and, well… Your parent's have passed away." he said.

Simon was shocked to find that he wasn't at all surprised by this tragic news. It was almost like he knew his parents were gone the moment Josh had called him.

Simon went back into the waiting room as it suddenly dawned on him that he would have to be the one to tell his siblings. He panicked for a moment, before forcing himself to take a deep breath and calm down.

Simon went over to his brother and sister. Josh looked up at him, his greenish-blue eyes pleading for information. Andrea was now awake, her blue eyes darting between her two brothers, seeming unsure of the situation.

Simon knelt in front of them, so his eyes were level with Josh's as he quietly said, "They died."

Josh's eyes began to fill with tears as he rested his chin on the top of Andrea's head, holding her as though she were a teddy bear. Andrea didn't cry, but she had a very serious expression that did not belong to the face of a seven-year-old.

Simon had no clue how to comfort the children so he didn't even try. He was almost thankful when some sort of case worker tapped him on the shoulder and insisted on speaking away from the kids. The caseworker was a middle-aged woman with the name Linda Thompson. She gave Simon a very boring speech about the death of a family member effecting children. She then told Simon that either he could become his brother and sister's legal guardian, or they would go to a state home and be split up. Thinking about how selfish he was towards his mother the last time they spoke, Simon knew that this was his chance to make up for it. He accepted the role as legal guardian.

After signing a bunch of paperwork, Simon went over to his siblings. "Time to go home," he announced. The three Curtis siblings left the hospital, all of them knowing that their lives have now been changed forever.

Author's Note: Reviews would be appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Outsiders_.

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4 Years Later

(Andrea's POV)

I was walking out of the local movie theater, my mind on a ride home. It was a nice day, not too hot and not too cold and it was a few hours until sunset. I enjoyed walking by myself because it gave me time to think and clear my head, something not many people do so often these days. But could I walk home? No.

Instead, I had to walk to the music store my brother Josh worked at and hang out there for a few hours so he could drive me home. I didn't understand why I wasn't allowed to walk home alone while it was perfectly acceptable for me to sit in a dark theater surrounded by strangers, but I went along with it anyway just to avoid a fight with my oldest brother Simon.

Me and Simon have never gotten along. All I've ever done was get in his way and he hates me for it. We're total opposites and we're always fighting over one thing or another. It's been that way ever since I met him when I was seven and I don't think things will ever change between us. Oh well. At least I have Josh to talk to.

Josh is the brother I rely on, the one I go to with all my problems. He's always there when I need him and no matter what he always listens to me. Simon's just the guy that signs all the legal papers and pretends to care; as far as I'm concerned, Josh is my only family.

I had arrived at the music store to find my brother talking with a costumer while several people roamed the store. I could tell that Josh would be a little busy today, so I spent my time looking at different CDs, thankful my brother had an interesting workplace.

A few hours later, the store was quiet. There weren't any customers and Josh's boss was on his dinner break. Josh and I spent the time talking about school and movies and stuff. It was fun until the jingle of the bell at the front door interrupted us and Josh told me to go look at CDs again.

I was hidden behind a CD rack when I saw him. The guy who had walked through the door appeared to be nearly six feet tall, around Simon's size. He was wearing a ski mask so I couldn't see his face. I had no idea who he was, all I knew was that he scared me.

What scared me even more was when he approached my older brother, who was at the cash register. The masked man had a brown paper bag in one hand, which he handed to Josh, and a handgun in the other, pointing at my brother's head. "Give me the money" the robber said in a gruff voice.

I wanted to do something-- anything-- to help my brother, but my body wasn't cooperating. I stood frozen in my hiding place, unable to move, or think, or even breathe. My heart was pounding so loud I was shocked that I wasn't discovered.

I just stood there as Josh poured the contents of the cash register into the bag. When he was finished, the man took the brown bag and fled the store. Once the door closed behind him, I let out the deep breath I had been holding and ran towards Josh.

I hugged him while he told me that he was alright, just freaked out. Then, the door opened once again and Josh and I both jumped out of our skin at the sound of the bell.

"What, y'all excited to see me?" a familiar voice asked.

Josh and I both relaxed at the sight of Keith Matthews. He was a friend of our father's and has visited frequently since our parents funeral. He was fifty-two years old and still went by the nickname "Two-Bit". It was hard to believe that he was a full-grown adult since was always telling jokes and stories and acting like he was still a teenager. Although he can be serious when he wants to be, he's usually not.

"Two-Bit, now's not a good time," Josh began.

"Why not? You kids gettin' ready for a party or somethin'?" he asked

"No. I have to call my boss. We were just robbed." Josh explained. The grin was wiped off of Two-Bit's face and he seemed uncomfortable for a moment.

"What'd they take?" Two-Bit asked.

"Money, what else?" I responded.

Two-Bit opened his mouth to say something, but I guess he thought better of it since he just sighed instead. "You kids want me to call your brother and let him know what happened?" he asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Josh said, "My boss should be here soon so after we tell him, we'll be able to go home. You gonna stay here, Two-Bit, or are you going somewhere?"

"I'll stick around here to make sure everything's alright. I don't wanna leave you kids by your lonesome to deal with this," Two-Bit assured us. He took out his cell phone and called Simon just as Josh's boss walked through the door.

Josh's boss, Tom Nedley was nice guy, but not very understanding. I felt bad for Josh as Tom invited him to his office to discuss the recent event.

"You look pretty shaken up," Two-Bit pointed out, "You wanted tell me what happened?"

I told him everything I saw and heard. When I was done with my little story, Josh and Tom returned and Simon walked inside.

"Is everyone okay? What happened?" Simon hurriedly asked. Now it was Josh's turn to tell the tale.

When he was finished, Simon turned to me. "The guy didn't see you, did he?" he asked.

"No,"

"Did you have your cell phone on you?"

"Yes,"

"Why didn't you call 9-1-1 or somebody?"

"I-I didn't think…" I whispered. I hated the way Simon always made me feel so small and stupid whenever I forgot something or made a mistake.

"Yeah, I figured that," Simon muttered.

"Hey, lay off her. She's only eleven and that guy had a gun. If she called somebody and he heard her, she could've been killed," Josh defended.

"Whatever," Simon sighed, "It's a school night and it's getting late; let's go home."

"I have to stay here for a while and talk to the cops about the robbery," Josh informed him.

"Fine. I'll save you something for dinner and you get eat when you get home," Simon told him, "What about you, Two-Bit, you want to have dinner at our house?"

"Nah. I just decided to see y'all to see how you've been doin'. It looks like you have a lot to deal with, so I'll check up on you guys again soon." Two-Bit looked at Simon. "Geez, kid. You look more and more like Darry every time I see you."

He was walking toward the door when he suddenly stopped and faced us again. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I think I finally convinced my wife to sell the house in Oklahoma and we might move up here to Seneca, New York." Two-Bit told us.

Later that night, I was lying in bed trying to sleep when I heard Josh in the next room. We both had small rooms connected with a sliding door. I entered his room and asked him what happened.

"Nothing happened. The cops came, asked what happened, and I told them. My boss was pissed off about losing a ton of money and the cops were annoyed because this was, like, the tenth store robbed this week. They just asked for information on the guy that did it and said they'd get back to us if they got any leads," Josh told me.

"Do you think he'll come back?"

"The thief? No way. No idiot of a robber would steal from the same store twice. There's too much of a chance he'll get caught. I think the only reason he robbed us this time is because somehow he must have known that the security cameras were broken and being replaced tomorrow," Josh said.

I looked down at the dark blue carpet. "Do you think it's my fault?" I quietly asked.

"What?"

I looked at him to see that he had confusion written all over his face. "Do you… Do you think it was my fault that the guy stole the money?"

"Andrea… None of it was your fault,"

"But Simon said--"

"Forget about what Simon said," Josh interrupted, "He wasn't thinking when he told you that. You didn't do anything wrong."

I still wasn't entirely sure I believed him. What if Simon was right and the robbery could have been avoided if I had just thought to make a simple phone-call?

Josh must have seen my dubious expression because he said, "Andrea… You didn't walk into the store wearing a ski mask with bad intentions. You didn't pull out that bag, you didn't hold a gun to my head, and you didn't run off with that money. Now go to bed before Simon hears us."

I left his room, feeling slightly better about the robbery. But I was still upset about what Simon said. I always tell myself to forget about Simon and that I don't really care about him. But I never do forget about him. And that just makes it worse when he makes comments like the one he said today.

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Author's Note: Thanks so much to those who reviewed last chapter. Please review for this chapter. I would really love to hear what people think of this story. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Never have and never will own S.E. Hinton's _The Outsiders_

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It has been a few months since the robbery occurred, yet sometimes it still scares me. It scares me because the guy who did it never got caught and he could be anyone, maybe even someone I know.

I was thinking about the robbery this afternoon because I was once again walking around town after seeing a movie. Only this time I wasn't going to Josh's workplace. This time, I was wandering aimlessly just to pass the time.

I would have been hanging out with my two best friends, but for some reason, they seem to have deserted me. For some reason beyond my comprehension, I've gone to a small Catholic school for the past seven years of my life. I've never really fit in with the other kids in my class who rich and are completely obsessed with material possessions such as designer clothes and purses. My two best friends, Matty and Sasha weren't like that.

Sasha was a trouble maker, sent to Catholic school by her parents in hopes that religion would rub off on her. It didn't. She always talked back to the teachers and she always had a crazy plan that usually ended up with one or the both of us in the principal's office. I think the other kids didn't accept her because of her wildness, but I liked her. While she could be a little extreme at times, she lived on the edge and made life interesting. She was expelled at the end of last year after accidentally dropping a lit cigarette in the bathroom and nearly setting to school on fire.

Matty, on the other hand, went to Catholic school on a full scholarship. He was a quiet guy, but I admired him. He was neither leader nor follower but his own person. He never spoke much in front of other people, but I was a pretty quiet person too and we both got along really well. I felt bad for him because his family was far from rich and he always got into arguments with his parents. He left the school after losing his scholarship when his grades fell.

Sasha and Matty seem like completely different people, but they both got along really well. I think Matty liked Sasha's outgoingness and daring. Too bad that's all over now.

I haven't spoken to either of them since June-- nearly a year ago. We had told each other that we would keep in touch and for a while we did, but then school started and they both went off to public school.

My catholic school and their public school have been long-time rivals. Whenever one school gets invited to another's school dance, a fight is sure to break out. I don't really understand it, but catholics and publics just don't mix. _Maybe that's why we haven't spoken in so long_, I thought.

A familiar figure sweeping past me on the sidewalk pulled me out of my thoughts. For a moment I thought I must be daydreaming to be seeing him. "Matty?" I tentatively called out.

The figure paused, as though trying to decide whether or not to respond. He spun around, and sure enough, I found myself facing Matthias Johnson. "What do you want?" he asked.

His cold voice surprised me. He was usually so much nicer than that and was too quiet to be mean. "I-I just wanted to see how you were doing since we haven't spoken for so long" I whispered.

He had a dark look in his brown eyes, like he was distracted by something. "Well, I'm not busy or anything so you wanna go to the movies, like we used to?" he asked, his whole manner changing.

"Sure. Since Sasha's not here, will we go the normal way?" I said, the "normal way" meaning paying to get in rather than sneaking in. We both usually preferred to do things the legal way, but Sasha hated everything to do with rules and authority, so with her we usually snuck in. We never got caught though, so it's nothing to worry about for us.

"Why not? It'll be like old times minus Sasha heightening the risk factor," he told me as we began the walk to the nearest movie theater.

The movie was pretty boring with an overused plot, but I didn't mind. It was better than walking around by myself, a habit I had recently formed just to get away from Simon.

By the time the movie was over, it was just after sunset. I probably should have been home already, but I wanted a chance to talk to Matty. We walked in silence, but I knew exactly where we were going. There was old park in the woods near Matty's house. It was a cool place to hang out, but I could tell tonight would be different from the fun times we used to have there.

When we arrived at the park, I broke the silence. "Matty… something's wrong. You're different than how you used to be. Something happened since June. What is it?"

He shrugged, "June was almost a year ago. A lot can happen in a year"

"Yeah…" I agreed, "But what did happen?"

"I don't know. Everything just stopped making sense," he whispered as he sat down underneath a tree.

I looked at him in confusion as I sat beside him.

"I mean, our schools are always at it for no reason and with everything going on at home…" he sighed, "…I just don't know how much more of this I can deal with. Don't you ever wish you could just get away from it all?"

"Yeah," I quietly told him, "Around here, everybody fights, but nobody really knows why. Maybe someday we'll be able to get away from it all. Just not now."

"But I need to get away now!" he shouted.

His outburst shocked me. I didn't think I had ever heard him yell before.

"…If I don't, I'll kill myself or something…."

"Matty, you can't!" I told him, "You're life may not be great now, but someday it might be. Someday you'll be able to get away from here and all the fighting will be over. It can't last forever."

He paused and looked away for a moment before asking, "Have your brothers ever hit you?"

I was a little taken aback by his question. "No," I answered.

"But do you think they would, if they were angry enough?"

I took a moment to think about this. Josh, I knew would never in a million years harm me in any way, intentional or not. Simon, on the other hand was always yelling at me… _But only yelling_, I told myself.

"No. Neither of them would. Never," I positively told him. Just as I said that, I was reminded that I was already late getting home. I knew Matty needed to talk to me, but at the moment the only thing on my mind was how late I was and what Simon would say.

"You're l--" "What time is it?" I interrupted.

Matty pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket. "About two in the morning," he told me.

My heart skipped a beat. _Simon will ground me for life when I get home, _I thought. "Matty, I'm sorry, but I have to go. We should talk again soon, though," I said. "Okay, I'll see you around," he quietly said. Not bothering to say a proper good-bye, I quickly left him.

I ran as fast as I could to my house, partially because I knew I was in deep trouble and didn't want to make this worse by staying out longer and partially because it was creepy being out alone so late.

But the with the disadvantage of being so small for my age, I couldn't run for too long. I was panting so hard, I nearly collapsed on the sidewalk. Luckily, an old familiar, beat-up car pulled up next to me. Two people were in the car: Two-Bit was driving and in the passenger seat was Steve Randle.

Seeing Two-Bit around was nothing new; he was always checking up on us because he says that he owes everything to our father and I guess he likes that Simon reminds him of our dad. Steve, however, was a different story.

He was a year younger than Two-Bit but seemed several years older. He was a war hero from fighting in Vietnam alongside my Uncle Sodapop. Usually, Steve stayed at the nearby Veterans home, where my Uncle Soda lived. My uncle was crippled for life since the war, and Steve was always there to take care of him. That was probably why he was never around much. I guess it was also because he didn't seem to like kids very much.

"Two-Bit! Steve!" I panted, "What-- are you-- doing--here?" I asked between gasps for air.

"Lookin' for you. Your brother's goin' crazy wondering where you are. Now, come on," Two-Bit said.

I gratefully got into the car. Then it sank in to me that if Simon had to call people to look for me, I was going to be in huge trouble when I got home.

"What were you doin' out so late?" Steve asked.

"I was just hanging out with an old friend and lost track of time. No big deal." I told him.

"It is to your brother. They were afraid to call the cops, so they called us to look for you," Steve said.

My heart skipped a beat as I thought about how much trouble I would be in. I hate getting yelled at.

Two-Bit must have noticed how scared I was because he said, "You know, you kids remind me so much about the old gang. I remember one time, your Uncle Pony…" I stopped paying attention. Usually I enjoyed hearing stories about my parents past, but not tonight. I hated being yelled at and I knew that Simon would be really angry with me. Then I realized that Two-Bit and Steve had both said my brother was worried, not brothers.

We arrived at my house in no time. My glimmer of hope was shot down with, "You want me to go in with you to face Simon?" Two-Bit asked. "No, that's okay," I whispered, "Thanks for the ride". I got out of the car and walked up to the front door.

I cautiously peered through the window. Simon was pacing around the room and Josh was nowhere to be seen. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door and walked inside.

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Author's Note: Sorry it took my so long to update with a new chapter. This chapter was really hard for me to write. Please review. I am open to any suggestions or comments. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Two-Bit or any other character from _The Outsiders_, something I also do not own.

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The second the door closed behind me, Simon was in front of me, anger blazing through his eyes. "Are you hurt?" he asked in a low, dangerous tone. 

I shook my head.

"Do you know what time it is?" he asked, his voice rising slightly.

I nodded.

"Did you get lost?"

I shook my head again. I hated the feeling of helplessness I got whenever Simon got angry with me.

"Then where the hell where you?" he shouted so loud that I jumped back and hit the door.

"Well?" he impatiently asked.

"I-I was talking to Matty by the park in the woods," I said, knowing full-well how stupid it sounded.

Simon just gave me a disbelieving look and walked away from me a little. I took my chance to inch further into the room, hoping to be able sneak away to my room. No such luck.

Simon spun around and said, "Oh no, we're not done with this. Tell me, what was so important that kept you occupied seven hours after I told you to be home?"

I looked down at the floor. I didn't know what to tell him, so I tried to change the subject by asking, "Where's Josh?"

"Never mind where Josh is," he snapped as he took a step towards me, "I asked you a question, now answer it!"

"Well, I asked you a question too!" I responded. I knew I was testing his patience, but I also knew that no matter what I did or said he would only get angrier.

"God, Andrea I'm so sick of this. You think that Josh is the only person you have to listen to; that as long as he's around you can ignore me completely! But he's not here to defend you now so forget about him and tell me what the hell you were thinking tonight!"

"I don't know," I whispered as I tried to hold back tears.

In one swift movement, Simon furiously slapped me across the head. I fell backwards, colliding with the wall and I slid down it so I was sitting on the floor. I looked up at Simon, too frightened to do anything else. For a moment he just towered over me, staring with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he turned and walked out the door.

I could feel tears pouring down my face. My head throbbed from being smacked so hard, but that wasn't why I was crying. I was crying partially because not even an hour ago I had thought that Simon would never hit me and I felt betrayed that he did, but for the most part I was crying because in a moment of an epiphany, I understood what Matty was trying to tell me earlier and I knew exactly what life must be like for him.

For Matty, life must be terrible. I don't know how he handles coping with the pain of what his parents must do to him. I saw how he was last night; it's slowly killing him. I now understood why he left Catholic school. His grades fell because of all the pressure he was under and all the stress he had from home. I just hope he never ends up like Sasha.

Sasha's mother left her and her dad when she was young. Sasha technically lives with her father, but she never sees him because he's always out on a date with some woman. Sasha was used to being abandoned and has been hurt so much in her twelve years that truthfully, I think somewhere along the lines she stopped caring about what would happen to her. I think that's why she's always getting into trouble.

I have no idea how long I was sitting on floor, crying my heart out for my friends. I might have stayed there for the remainder of the night and possibly the whole day if it hadn't been for Josh.

I didn't see him come in, but suddenly he was kneeling beside me, one hand on my shoulder and his other hand under my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

The events of the night came rushing back to me and for once in my life, I found myself unable to answer Josh. He and Simon were really close. What if he didn't believe me? What if I was wrong to trust Josh just like it was wrong to think that Simon wouldn't hit me?

"Andrea?" he prompted, "Come on, whatever it is you can tell me. You know that."

The sound of concern in his voice was enough to convince me to trust him. "Me and Simon had another fight…" I trailed off.

"That's it? Listen, Simon has a lot of stress in his life right now, and sometimes he just gets frustrated and takes everything out on you. Don't let what he says get to you. He doesn't mean to be like that," he paused and then softly said, "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

I nodded. He gave me a look that clearly said 'continue'. I looked away from him and quietly said, "He hit me."

I looked back at Josh. The look on his face was pure shock. Once he recovered from the news, he stood up and helped me up.

"Go to bed and stop worrying about Simon. I'll talk to him,"

"You don't have to," I said quickly, afraid he'd be angry if he found out I stayed out so late past curfew. To me, making Josh angry or upset was the worse thing I could possibly do.

"Where were you, anyway?" I asked him.

"Out with Jamie," he replied.

Jamie was Josh's girlfriend. She had light brown hair and hazel eyes. She came from a wealthy family, but didn't act like it. Most rich people I know are conceited and like others only for their social status, but not Jamie. She was kind and considerate of others. I thought she and my brother were perfect together.

"Are you in love in her?" I curiously asked him.

Josh smiled, "Yeah, I am."

I smiled back. I was glad that my brother had somebody to make him so happy. He deserved that. He's normally a happy-go-lucky kid, but lately he's been under as much stress as Simon since his grades have been even worse than usual and he's been spending a lot of time working.

He yawned and glanced at his watch. "It's late, we should both go to bed," he told me.

Being such a light sleeper, I woke up a few hours later to the sound of my brothers voices floating all the way from the kitchen. They were speaking quietly and I couldn't make out exact words so hurriedly changed clothes and crept down the hall to eavesdrop.

"… I spent all night thinking about it. I just don't know what to do," Simon's voice murmured.

Curious as to what he was talking about, I bent down next to the air vent in the hall to hear the echo of the conversation.

"Well, I liked her and everything but if she's causing you so much trouble, maybe you should. After all, she has been kind of annoying lately," Josh said.

_Who's she and maybe he should do what?_ I wondered.

"Yeah, I thought that, too… but how do you think Two-Bit will react? After all, they may not see each other everyday but they seem pretty close," Simon's voice echoed.

My heart was pounding. Maybe they were talking about… but surely they couldn't be thinking about…

"Good point. Two-Bit sure looks out for her, but he can't stay mad at you, you remind him too much of dad," Josh told him.

"Now I do, but if I do get her out of the picture then he'll think of me as the opposite of dad. Dad would never do this"

By now I had figured out what they were talking about: me. Simon wanted to get rid of me, but is afraid Two-Bit wouldn't think of him the same way if he did. I thought about what Josh said. Was I really that annoying to him? I knew I bugged Simon, but I thought Josh was different.

"You're not going to tell her anything about this, are you?" Simon asked.

"No way," Josh responded, "It's your decision and I don't want her mad at me..."

I couldn't sit there and listen to their conversation any longer. I decided to do them and myself a favor. They obviously didn't want me around and I didn't want to stay. Without a second thought, I left my house without glancing back. I had no idea where I was going in the early hours of the morning, but I didn't care a bit. Anywhere was better than staying there.

I eventually decided to find Matty. After all, he was the only person I could think of that could understand what I was going through. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, he was the now the only person I could trust. I just hoped that it wouldn't lead to another dissapointment.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks to those who reviewed. I would really appreciate reviews for this chapter. Hint, hint. 

Oh, I forgot to add this last chapter... I know a lot of reviewers were wondering about Ponyboy and Sodapop. Don't worry, they have not been forgotten. More about them will be revealed as the story progresses.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Never have and never will own S.E. Hinton's _The Outsiders_

I was walking through the park near Matty's house when I saw him walking towards me. When he came closer I asked him where he was going.

Looking at me as though I had grown an extra head, he responded, "School... It's Monday. What, does your school have the day off or something?"

"No, I..." my voice trailed off as a soft murmuring echoed through the trees. Matty must have heard it too because he hid behind a bush and motioned for me to follow.

"...money from that record store..." somebody said.

I heard Matty gasp.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"C'mon," he said as he crept away, "We don't want to be here."

"Why, you know him?"

"Sort of..."

"...I'll leave it in the old park, ain't no one gonna find it there..." the voice said.

I peered through the leafy branches to get a good look at the intruder. It was a kid, probably only a year or two older than me. He seemed to have a good build but was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses so I couldn't see his face.

"C'mon," Matty repeated, "We should go; we both have to get to school."

I nodded so we both crawled out from behind the bush. Bad move.

The sound of twigs snapping beneath our feet alerted the boy to our presence. He was kneeling down, placing a brown bag in a knot at the base of a nearby tree trunk. He stood up so quickly to find us that his glasses fell off, revealing stormy gray eyes.

My first instinct was to hide, but in my minds eye, I kept seeing flashbacks of the night Josh's store got robbed and Josh poured the money into a brown bag...

"Andrea, run!" Matty's voice snapped me back to reality and I realized that the kid was chasing us. I tried desperately to follow Matty through the woods, but it was getting harder and harder to keep up. Since I had no idea where Matty was going and doubted that he even knew, I chose to run a different way in hopes that I would lose the guy chasing me and would be able to rest for a minute.

I thought I had lost him, so I allowed myself to sit down underneath a large tree to catch my breath. I couldn't have been there for more than a minute when the kid approached me.

The hood of his sweatshirt was down and I could see he had spiked, light brown hair. I also noticed that he was smirking slightly, like I amused him by being unable to run away.

He must have seen me glance for a way to escape because he mockingly said, "What, scared that your mommy isn't here to protect you?"

Like an idiot, I couldn't even come up with a comeback to say to him.

Then, an older, bulkier guy wearing a similar hoodie with a jacket over it came into the clearing, dragging Matty with him. He threw Matty onto the dirt floor and said to the boy, "I thought I told you no witnesses." The boy didn't seem so cocky then; his shoulders slumped and his cheeks flushed.

"No matter," the older one said as he pulled out something I recognized.

"Josh..." I whimpered. I didn't say that because I wished he was there to protect me, but because the guy held in his hand the same gun that he pointed at my brothers head a few months ago.

"What did you say?" the man's gruff voice asked.

"I know you," I told him with a shaky voice as Matty looked at me as though I was out of my mind, "You robbed the record store my brother works at."

I had hoped that the two guys would get scared that I recognized them, but my words seemed to have the opposite effect. The gruff-voiced man laughed and said, "Well then I guess it's a good thing you're here 'cause you'll never see a living soul again to tell them what you saw."

He handed the weapon to the younger boy, telling him that he could do the "honors" and took a step back. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion and that if I had thought about it, I could have ran out of the way. But I didn't. I was too scared to move. I just stood there and squeezed my eyes shut, awaiting the sound of the trigger.

A resounding BOOM echoed through the wood, but surprisingly, I felt no pain. I opened my eyes to see Matty holding the gun. He was standing over a sight that made me want to puke.

The younger boy was lying on his back in a pool of his own blood that was flowing through an indent in his forehead.

I shifted my gaze to Matty, whose shoulders were shaking.

"What happened?" I whispered fearfully.

"I d-don't really know," He said quietly, "They sort of forgot I was there and before I knew what I was doing, I just snuck up behind Amos, wrestled the gun away and pulled the... oh man, I'm in deep shit here, aren't I?"

I didn't know what to tell him. The whole thing felt so unreal; like this was just a bad dream and I would wake up only to find that I was safe in my room with Josh nearby to comfort me.

The sound of sirens in the distance pulled me out of my train of thought. _Sirens_... that was another thing to think about.

"Amos... that was his name?" I asked him.

"Yeah. He is--was an eighth grader at my school. He's always getting into fights and he skips school whenever he's not suspended and I've seen him doing drugs a lot."

"How do you know him?"

"Everybody knows him, or of him; that's how much of a troublemaker he is."

"What about the other guy that was here?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure, but I think it was his older brother. I've heard a couple rumors that his brother was in a gang and wanted to initiate Amos once he got old enough. I don't know if any of it's true, though."

"What happened to him?"

"What, just now? He ran like hell the second I pulled the trigger."

The next few moments were spent in silence, as we were each trapped in our own thoughts.

"What do we do?" we both finally asked each other at the same time. We shared a small smile.

Matty was the first to speak, "Well, if we go to school, nobody will suspect anything--"

"I can't go to school; I'd have to go back home to change into my uniform and I'd run into my brothers and they'll know something's up... besides, we're probably both late already. I don't know what happens in your school, but in mine we get detention if we show up after homeroom."

"Good point," Matty said, "Okay, no school... but then where do we go? If we cut school, they'll call home so our families will know something happened today. And, somebody's going to discover the body and it'll be on the news and they'll piece it together..."

"Right, so we shouldn't even be here now in case somebody shows up. We have to get away, but where to?"

"Sasha," Matty said firmly, "She's, like, the queen of getting away with stuff; she'll know what to do."

"Great, except she's at school!"

"Not necessarily," Matty smirked, "You know how often she cuts class."

"So let's go."

I got the strangest feeling as Matty and I turned our backs on the dead youth and walked through the woods. It still felt surreal, but then there was this thrill to it, as if we were on a grand adventure. But it wasn't an adventure, it was a terrifying murder that may have prevented me from ever seeing my brothers again. What made it worse was that normally, I turned to Josh whenever I was afraid, but now I was certain that he didn't care about me and if I ran home to him, I'd be shipped off to Social Services.

But there was more to it than the fear or the thrill... there was something beneath that, almost like nostalgia. Somewhere within me, there was a sentimental feeling because it almost felt like I was back in the fifth grade, pulling off some stupid elementary prank with Matty's help and Sasha would invent some sort of crazy plan to get us out of trouble.

But this was different and I knew it... This time, if we were caught, the cost would be more than detention or a lecture from Simon.

* * *

Meanwhile, Simon was at the Veteran's home, visiting his Uncle Sodapop because Steve had fallen ill and couldn't take care of him.

"What've you kids been up to lately?" Soda asked Simon from his wheelchair as he took a sip of coffee.

"For me, nothing out of the usual. But today, Josh decided to skip school--"

Sodapop nearly choked on his tea as Simon said this. "He what? For how long? Why?"

Simon was a little shocked that his uncle cared this much. He shrugged as he said, "All I know is that his girlfriend Jamie is moving and he wanted to spend time with her. He'll get over it in a few days."

"Listen, kiddo, you better make sure it's only for a few days and then you gotta get that boy back in school. He's too brainy to waste his mind on that record store his whole dang life--"

"Uncle Soda, it's just a day of playing hookey. It won't make him a drop-out."

"See to it that it don't."

Simon struggled to find the right words to ask the question that was burning inside him. It finally came out as, "Look... it's nice that's you're concerned and everything... but, why are you concerned?"

Sodapop looked his nephew straight in the eye and told him, "Because it just started as a game of hookey for me and my girl Sandy, too. At first we skipped school just to be with each other. After awhile, school was a jail for me so I stopped goin'. I felt too stupid to be there, so I did somethin' useful and got a job at a gas station," he smiled at the memory, "It was a whole lot better than bein' at school and people thought I was a good guy, forced into it to help your dad take care of our baby brother."

"No offense, but I doubt Josh will become a drop-out to work at the record store full-time. He hates working there; the only reason he does is because he likes the extra money."

"All the more reason to keep an eye out for him before he ends up caught in a war like me," Sodapop warned.

"What do you mean?" Simon asked, puzzled, "I thought you got drafted to war, that you didn't want to go."

"I was drafted but you said it yourself that the kid hates his job. If he drops out, the military would be the first place he'd look for a new job."

"Unlce Soda, he's not dropping out. He's just taking a day off to say goodbye to his girlfriend, not going to Iraq. Josh'll be fine." Simon assured the veteran.

"Fine then, if you don't want my advice then don't take it," Sodapop sighed, "Anyways, how's your sister, Andrea? Steve told me she went M.I.A."

"Ummm, yeah..." Simon proceeded to tell his uncle the events of the previous night.

"So let me get this striaght..." Sodapop said once Simon told him everything, "Andrea got home late, you yelled at her, hit her, and then left the house to vent everything out with your girlfriend only to have her get mad at you?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Simon murmered. For some reason, the events seemed a whole lot worse when his uncle spoke about it than it had seemed when it was actually happening. How did he become the bad guy?

"Well thank God it wasn't the other way around," Soda muttered as a memory of his two brothers came to his mind.

"What?" Simon asked.

"Nothin', nothin'," he said, "Now tell me, did you see your sister since then?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"Oh, boy. You kids are in trouble..."

**Author's Note:** Sorry it took so long to update, but hopefully a longer chapter has made up for it! Thanks so much to those who reviewed. Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

When we arrived in Sasha's backyard after taking a shortcut through the woods, we noticed that the back door was locked. Fortunately, right next to it was an open, screen-less window. With a little help from Matty, I was able to climb through it. _Being short does have its advantages_, I noted as I opened the back door for Matty. Once we were both inside, we headed straight upstairs to Sasha's attic bedroom.

On the way there, I shivered as I looked at how neat and organized her house was. It reminded me of a museum because it was such a big house that was filled with expensive furniture, always had a center piece on every single table, numerous decorations lined up on each windowsill, hardwood flooring in every room, and no matter what season it was, the house was always cold. It was also similar to a museum by being a fake display; Sasha once told me that it was all set up to look nice for her fathers dates and not because he actually liked it. Judging by appearance, you would never be able to tell that a kid lived in that house. That was the way her father liked it.

But once we reached the stairs to the attic, it was definitely obvious because we could hear the radio blasting, a sure sign that Sasha was ditching school. Just as we were about to knock on the heavy wooden door, it opened.

Sasha let out a small, startled scream and asked us what we were doing in her house, in not so nice words.

"Me and Matty got together and decided to raid your house for money and jewelry, but you caught us," I said sarcastically.

"We kinda got into some trouble and we didn't know where else to go," Matty told her.

"What kind of trouble?" she asked suspiciously. Matty then proceeded to tell her the events that occurred that morning.

"Are you serious?" she asked, "You've got to be joking; Matty, you would never have the guts to do that!"

"Yeah, well, I did!" Matty exclaimed, "So are you gonna help us get out of this mess or not?"

"Are you sure the kid was dead?" Sasha asked while avoiding Matty's question.

"Well, we didn't stop to check his pulse, but he looked pretty dead to me," I told her in an annoyed tone. She was starting to sound like Simon, having to hear every little detail a million times.

"Dead or not, we are still in a lot of trouble. How do we get out of it?" Matty repeated.

"Well, if the other guy that was there told the cops or anybody, he might be arrested for whatever he was doing with the brown bag and the gun. So he probably won't tell. But somebody's gonna find the dead kid and there'll be an investigation and everything... But there's no real evidence that you guys were there, right?"

"If you mean evidence like this," Matty said, pulling the gun from his jacket pocket, "Then no. But don't you remember last year when we had to watch that stupid show on the Discovery Channel when they used science and technology and stuff to find DNA to catch criminals? What if they use that?"

"Wow, you were actually watching that?" Sasha asked.

"Guys, can we just figure out what to do?" I broke in.

"Right," Sasha said, "Well, if they do use that stuff, my advice is find a way to erase your DNA off the gun and get rid of it somehow. Then just act like everything's normal and nothing ever happened and no one will suspect a thing."

"That's the best you got? _I_ could have come up with that idea!" I told her, "We came here for you to give us some sort of plan like you used to!"

"The only reasons those plans ever worked was because our school was run by complete idiots who'll believe anything. And we never tried to get away with murdering a student before..."

I froze at that last sentence. The reality of the situation hit me with that one word. Murder. It sounded so cold, cruel, and heartless to take a person's life away; Something done only by hardened criminals or evil monsters. Not Matty. And yet a kid not that much older than us was dead because of him. I knew it wasn't really Matty's fault. But that didn't matter. The kid-- Amos, I think his name was-- was still dead and nothing could be done to change that.

"... so the only other thing I can think of is if you two go into hiding, like they do in old movies," Sasha finished.

"I like the second option better," I told them as I forced myself to focus on the situation at hand.

Matty shook his head, "If we just go back to our normal lives, they can only suspect us. But we're already cutting school-- our families probably even know that by now-- so people will be looking for us and if we don't go home, you're brothers will probably call the cops and report you missing."

"No, they wouldn't," I said quietly, "I heard them talking this morning and after what happened last night, Simon wants to get rid of me and Josh agreed. So they wouldn't care if I went missing. And even if they did care, they probably wouldn't call the cops cause it'd be an excuse for Social Services to bother us. Besides, I like the idea of hiding better than doing nothing."

"Either way we'd be sitting around doing nothing," Matty pointed out.

"Yeah, but, it'd be hard to go home and act like nothing happened and hiding seems like fun," I replied, although it wasn't the entire truth.

I couldn't just go back home and act like nothing happened this morning other than I didn't want to go to school. I couldn't just go about my normal everyday routine knowing a kid was dead and it was my fault. I was the one who went looking for Matty this morning, kept him from going to school, and it was because I couldn't run well and chose a different path that we got caught. Matty may have been the one to pull the trigger, but I was the reason he did it. How could I just act like none of that had happened? It seemed a whole lot easier to just hide. At least then I would be admitting that I had something to hide.

"I'm in for hiding out as long as it gets me away from home. Any ideas are where we would go?" Matty asked, looking at Sasha.

"Why do I have to come up with all the ideas?" she asked, acting annoyed although me and Matty both knew she loved it, "Okay... the one good hiding place I know of is this cabin, but it's deep in the woods and I don't think either of you should be going back there. And even if I knew other places to hide out, I'd wish you good luck getting there without running into anyone who would report you for ditching school or being missing or something. So the only other solution I can think of is if you both stay here."

Matty and I both found this an acceptable solution, seeing as Sasha's father is oblivious to everything other than his date of the week and we both had faith in her ability to cover for us incase anyone came looking for us.

For the rest of the day, we avoided discussing why we were there. Instead, we played board games while talking about school and our lives in general. I felt a little left out since Matty and Sasha knew a lot of the same people and swapped stories while I had no clue who they were talking about, but I didn't say anything about it.

After a while, I started telling them about what was going on in my school, the school which was once theirs. I told them everything from my becoming an outcast since they left to the latest horrible thing our most hated teacher has done to make us miserable. Eventually, we got to discussing our schools rivalry.

"But why do the kids in your school hate us so much?" I asked them.

Sasha shrugged, "Probably because you make us look bad. Most of the kids in your school are rich with designer everything and the latest cell phones and laptops and stuff and there aren't that many rich kids in our school who can afford all that."

"We aren't all rich!" I protested, "There are a couple kids that are but most of us are middle class. And Matty went to our --my-- school and he's certainly not rich! And how does your father afford everything in this house if you guys don't have a lot of money?"

"Gee, thanks," Matty muttered.

I blushed and apologized but Matty didn't seem too hurt by my thoughtless comment.

Sasha rolled her eyes, "Well, Matty doesn't even go there anymore so he doesn't count. And I went to that school, I know how it is. And as for my house-- my mother bought this house years ago and let him keep it when she got a bigger one. And the stuff he shows off are pretty much all gifts. But anyway, apart from you, all the kids in our class were preppy snobs!"

"In our class, maybe, but have you ever even talked to kids in other grades?" I asked, "There are only fifteen kids in my class and they are kinda snobby to me, but I don't think they act like that all the time. Or at least not to each other. But the other day I was talking to a group of fourth graders and they aren't like that. And you can't tell me that there aren't any kids like that in your school!"

"Well, there are a bunch of preps in my school, but that's one thing my school has over yours," Sasha said, "Because we have more kids, we have a lot more different groups of people and it's not separated by grade. Our school as jocks, band geeks, goths, nerds, punks, druggies, emos, preps, everything! What's great about having a lot of kids is that there's always a group of kids like you to hang out with. In your school, either you have to be like the majority of kids in your class or you're a loner. The only reason the three of us even became friends was because we didn't have much of a choice!"

For a moment I just stood there, letting Sasha's message sink in. Then I whispered, "So you mean we were never really friends in the first place?"

I didn't wait for an answer. I picked myself off of the floor I had been laying on and exited first Sasha's room and then her house. For that one moment, I had forgotten the reason I had gone to Sasha in the first place and the rest of my troubles. All that mattered in that one moment was that who I thought was my best friend turned out to be a fake friend. Another person I couldn't count on.

I was angrier with Sasha more than I had ever been angrier with anyone-- even Simon. It's one thing for a sibling or a rival or even a complete stranger to say something that hurts. But it's different when the harmful words come from a friend-- no, more than a friend; a _best _friend. Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you and if they do it by accident, they're supposed to apologize immediately. But Sasha had said the worst thing of all, the kind of thing you can't forgive. She had denied our best friendship completely by saying it had been forced. That's about the worst thing a person can do... make you think you have the perfect friendship and then yank it out from under you. Fuming, I walked away from Sasha's house, certain that I would never forgive her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I know, I know, I took a ridiculously long amount of time to update and this chapter definitely wasn't my best. I'm sorry. I kind of hate this chapter (which is partially why it took so long for me to write it) but it's necessary for the story. I'm sorry none of the original Outsiders were in this chapter but they WILL be included later. Ponyboy will most certainly be in it... just not quite yet. 


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